CAREER: Quantifying Erosional Processes on Upland Landscapes

提案标题：PECASE：量化侵蚀过程对高地景观机构：达特茅斯学院PI提出了一个为期五年的研究项目，以量化具体的本构关系的沉积物的生产和运输过程，整合方法和建立学习和发现到教育计划之间的协同作用。研究将测试假设（1）量化侵蚀性，或机械强度，在景观与已知的土壤生产功能，（2）量化土壤生产率和过程在景观的部分以前没有检查，和（3）量化泥沙运输机制在相同的景观，以更好地定义广泛适用的侵蚀规律。具体而言，PI将使用实验室和现场测试，以确定母体材料的机械状态，原位产生的宇宙成因核素（10 Be和26 Al），以确定土壤生产和流域平均侵蚀率，以及短寿命的沉降物核素（7 Be，210 Pb，137 Cs和241 Am），再加上一个数值模型，以量化相同地点的沉积物输运过程。这些独立的方法将被用来测试三个基本假设，我们的理解积极侵蚀土壤覆盖景观。这些假设都是现场测试，链接的过程中形成的景观，并可能有助于解释土壤覆盖景观之间的变异性，但他们还没有进行定量测试。此外，在每个现场的工作将解决有关最能描述现场主要地貌过程的迁移规律以及现场风化历史的具体问题。“这个项目最初是作为一个职业奖资助，并在2004年9月转换为总统早期职业奖工程师和科学家（PECASE）奖。

Proposal Title: PECASE: Quantifying Erosional Processes on Upland LandscapesInstitution: Dartmouth CollegePI proposes a five-year research project to quantify specific constitutive relationships for sediment production and transport processes, integrating methodologies and building the synergy between learning and discovery into an education plan. Research will test hypotheses to (1) quantify erodability, or mechanical strength, of parent material across landscapes with known soil production functions, (2) quantify soil production rates and processes across portions of the landscape not examined previously, and (3) quantify the mechanisms of sediment transport across the same landscapes to better define widely applicable erosion laws. Specifically, PI will use lab and field testing to determine the mechanical state of the parent material, in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides (10Be and 26Al) to determine soil production and catchment-averaged erosion rates, and short-lived fallout nuclides (7Be, 210Pb, 137Cs, and 241Am) coupled with a numerical model to quantify sediment transport processes on the same sites. These independent methodologies will be used to test three fundamental hypotheses underlying our understanding of actively eroding soil-mantled landscapes. These hypotheses are all field-testable, link the processes shaping a landscape and may help explain the variability among soil-mantled landscapes, yet they have not been quantitatively tested to date. Additionally, work at each field site will address specific questions regarding the transport laws best describing the dominant geomorphic processes operating on the sites as well as the weathering history of the sites."This project was originally funded as a CAREER award, and was converted to a Presidential Early Career Award for Engineers and Scientists (PECASE) award in September 2004.